:''See disambiguation page
Challa for more meanings of the word.''
Chala ( uz, чала ) is an
Uzbek term meaning "neither this nor that," referring to
Bukharan Jews who were converted to
Islam beginning in the late eighteenth century. In response, these Chala Jews outwardly practiced Islam, but secretly retained their Jewish traditions. These
crypto-Jews
Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden').
The term is especially applied historically to Sp ...
married among themselves and lived in their own neighborhoods that bordered on existing Jewish neighborhoods. The Chala Jews carry a very similar story to the
Dönmeh
The Dönme ( he, דוֹנְמֶה, Dōnme, ota, دونمه, tr, Dönme) were a group of Sabbatean crypto-Jews in the Ottoman Empire who converted outwardly to Islam, but retained their Jewish faith and Kabbalistic beliefs in secret. The mo ...
and to the
Marranos
Marranos were Spanish and Portuguese Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted or were forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, but continued to practice Judaism in secrecy.
The term specifically refers to the cha ...
of Spain.
Chala Jews were unable to return to their true Jewish faith due to the fatal consequences associated with
leaving the Islamic faith. The Islamic rulership during this period imposed a death penalty against those renouncing their Islamic faith. Therefore, it was not until the emergence of Imperial Russia, and Soviet rule that Chala Jews were able to revert to their original faith.
By the 19th century, there were Chala communities that emerged in the cities of:
Samarkand
fa, سمرقند
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...
,
Khiva
Khiva ( uz, Xiva/, خىۋا; fa, خیوه, ; alternative or historical names include ''Kheeva'', ''Khorasam'', ''Khoresm'', ''Khwarezm'', ''Khwarizm'', ''Khwarazm'', ''Chorezm'', ar, خوارزم and fa, خوارزم) is a district-level city ...
,
Kokand
Kokand ( uz, Qo‘qon/Қўқон/قوقان, ; russian: Кока́нд; fa, خوقند, Xuqand; Chagatai: خوقند, ''Xuqand''; ky, Кокон, Kokon; tg, Хӯқанд, Xöqand) is a city in Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan, at the sou ...
,
Margilan
Margilan ( uz, Marg‘ilon/Марғилон, ; russian: Маргилан) is a city (2022 pop. 242,500) in Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Administratively, Margilan is a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlement Yangi Marg ...
, and
Shahrisabz
Shakhrisabz ( uz, Шаҳрисабз ; tg, Шаҳрисабз; fa, شهر سبز, shahr-e sabz: "city of green" / "verdant city"; russian: Шахрисабз) is a district-level city in Qashqadaryo Region in southern Uzbekistan. The Economic Co ...
. Often, it was not until two to three generations that Chala Jews would begin to intermarry with the local Muslim population and shed any remaining Jewish traditions.
The return of the Chala to Judaism began with the
Russian conquest of Central Asia
The partially successful Territorial evolution of Russia, conquest of Central Asia by the Russian Empire took place in the second half of the nineteenth century. The land that became Russian Turkestan and later Soviet Central Asia is now divide ...
in 1867. While the
Khiva
Khiva ( uz, Xiva/, خىۋا; fa, خیوه, ; alternative or historical names include ''Kheeva'', ''Khorasam'', ''Khoresm'', ''Khwarezm'', ''Khwarizm'', ''Khwarazm'', ''Chorezm'', ar, خوارزم and fa, خوارزم) is a district-level city ...
and
Kokand
Kokand ( uz, Qo‘qon/Қўқон/قوقان, ; russian: Кока́нд; fa, خوقند, Xuqand; Chagatai: خوقند, ''Xuqand''; ky, Кокон, Kokon; tg, Хӯқанд, Xöqand) is a city in Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan, at the sou ...
khanates were incorporated into the
Turkestan governorate, the
Bukhara Khanate remained autonomous and continued to
enforce the death penalty against those who abandoned Islam. As a result, many Chala Jews illegally immigrated into Russian-controlled areas, to escape the certain threat of death. Although Russian law required that these newcomers be deported back to Bukhara and face an imminent death, the deportation orders were continuously delayed, and thus many had remained as permanent non-citizens of the Russian Turkestan region. Some Chala Jews also joined merchant guilds in order to prove their economic use to the empire. Because Muslim law was retained in Bukhara for a longer period than in surrounding cities, by the time communist Soviet rule arrived in Bukhara, many members of the local Chala no longer identified themselves as Jewish, and were fully assimilated into the Muslim population.
Following the
installation of Soviet rule in 1920, the religious distinction among the population was no longer officially recognized. Nevertheless, ethnic distinctions on passports enabled many Chala Jews to continue being counted as ethnic
Uzbeks
The Uzbeks ( uz, , , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the wider Central Asian region, being among the largest Turkic ethnic group in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakh and Karakalpak mino ...
and
Tajiks
Tajiks ( fa, تاجيک، تاجک, ''Tājīk, Tājek''; tg, Тоҷик) are a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajik ...
, rather than Jews.
In 2000, author Mansur Surosh published a novel ''Chala ("The Outcasts")'', which describes the experiences of the chala.
See also
*
Dönmeh
The Dönme ( he, דוֹנְמֶה, Dōnme, ota, دونمه, tr, Dönme) were a group of Sabbatean crypto-Jews in the Ottoman Empire who converted outwardly to Islam, but retained their Jewish faith and Kabbalistic beliefs in secret. The mo ...
*
Allahdad
The Allahdad ( fa, الله داد, ) was an 1839 pogrom perpetrated by Muslims against the Mashhadi Jewish community in the city of Mashhad, Qajar Iran. It was characterized by the mass-killing and forced conversion of the Jews in the area to ...
*
Converso
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert", () was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants.
To safeguard the Old Christian po ...
*
Marrano
Marranos were Spanish and Portuguese Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted or were Forced conversion#Spanish Inquisition, forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, but continued to Crypto-Judaism, practice Judaism i ...
*
Neofiti
The neofiti ( en, Neophytes) were a group of Italian ''anusim'', also known as crypto-Jews, living in Southern Italy.
History
The ''neofiti'' were descendants of Jews who were forced to convert to Roman Catholicism in 1493. They continued t ...
*
Emirate of Bukhara
The Emirate of Bukhara ( fa, , Amārat-e Bokhārā, chg, , Bukhārā Amirligi) was a Muslim polity in Central Asia that existed from 1785 to 1920 in what is modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. It occupied the lan ...
*
Judaism and Islam
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
*
Challa (disambiguation page)
References
"The Muslim Jews (Chalah) by Dr. Albert Kaganovitch"{{reflist
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Converts to Islam from Judaism
Conversion to Islam
Islam and antisemitism
Crypto-Jews
Crypto-Judaism